Sojourners - Democratshttp://sojo.net/taxonomy/term/588/0
en7 Ways Religious Affiliation Will (and Won’t) Change in the New Congresshttp://sojo.net/blogs/2015/01/05/7-ways-religious-affiliation-will-and-wont-change-new-congress
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Republicans will take full control of Capitol Hill when the 114th Congress is sworn in&nbsp;on Jan. 6, but even with a political shift, there will be little change in the overall religious makeup of Congress,&nbsp;<a _fcksavedurl="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/01/05/faith-on-the-hill/" href="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/01/05/faith-on-the-hill/" target="_blank">according to a new analysis from the Pew Research Center</a>.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Here are seven ways the religious makeup of Congress will (and won’t) change.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1) More than nine-in-10 members of the House and Senate (92 precent) are Christian; about 57 percent are Protestant while 31 percent are Catholic. The new Congress&nbsp;will include at least seven members who are ordained ministers.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2) Protestants and Catholics continue to be over-represented as&nbsp;members of Congress than other Americans. As of 2013, 49 percent of American adults are Protestant, and 22 percent are Catholic, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">3) The biggest difference between Congress and other Americans is the number of people who say they are religiously unaffiliated.&nbsp;Just 0.2 percent of Congress say they are religiously unaffiliated, compared with&nbsp;20 percent of the general public. In fact, the only member of Congress who publicly&nbsp;identifies&nbsp;herself as religiously unaffiliated is sophomore&nbsp;<a _fcksavedurl="http://sinema.house.gov/index.cfm/home" href="http://sinema.house.gov/index.cfm/home" target="_blank">Rep. Kyrsten Sinema</a>, D-Ariz.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2015/01/05/7-ways-religious-affiliation-will-and-wont-change-new-congress" target="_blank">read more</a></p>CongressDemocratsGod's PoliticsRacial and Social Justicereligious affiliationRepublicansFaith and PoliticsMon, 05 Jan 2015 18:58:19 +0000Sarah Pulliam Bailey64291 at http://sojo.netNew ‘Nuns on the Bus’ Tour to Tackle Political ‘Dark Money’http://sojo.net/blogs/2014/09/09/new-%E2%80%98nuns-bus%E2%80%99-tour-tackle-political-%E2%80%98dark-money%E2%80%99
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This time it’s the Catholic sisters versus the Koch brothers.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">That’s one way to look at the upcoming “Nuns on the Bus” tour, which hits the road Sept. 17 for the third time in three years, a monthlong trip though 10 key U.S. Senate battleground states to campaign against the influence of outside money on politics.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The issue has come to be identified with the wealthy industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch, whose huge contributions to conservative political causes have raised concerns about the role of “dark money” on elections.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The spigot for such undisclosed donations, which can be made by unions as well as corporations, was opened by the controversial 2010&nbsp;<em>Citizens United</em>&nbsp;Supreme Court decision. That was followed by another 5-4 ruling in April of this year,&nbsp;<em>McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission</em>.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2014/09/09/new-%E2%80%98nuns-bus%E2%80%99-tour-tackle-political-%E2%80%98dark-money%E2%80%99" target="_blank">read more</a></p>DemocratsElection 2014God's PoliticsKoch brothersLCWRLeadership Conference of Women ReligiousNunsnuns on the busRacial and Social JusticeSister Simone CampbellU.S. SenateFaith and PoliticsTue, 09 Sep 2014 13:45:15 +0000David Gibson58286 at http://sojo.netAfter Edwina Rogers' Ouster, Secular Community Regroupshttp://sojo.net/blogs/2014/06/10/after-edwina-rogers-ouster-secular-community-regroups
<p>As the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.secular.org/" target="_blank">Secular Coalition for America</a>&nbsp;prepares for its biggest event of the year this week in Washington, D.C., atheist groups are recovering from the sudden departure of the coalition’s highest officer and confronting renewed charges that nonbelief groups have a shortage of women leaders and are suspicious of conservatives.</p><div id="attachment_75606">The SCA, which lobbies on behalf of more than a dozen secular groups, announced that its executive director, Edwina Rogers, was let go after employees embezzled $78,000 from the organization.</div><p>The story was&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/07/us/on-eve-of-big-event-atheist-group-fires-top-official.html?module=Search&amp;mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%5B%22RI%3A10%22%2C%22RI%3A15%22%5D" target="_blank">first reported by The New York Times</a>&nbsp;and referred to a leaked internal audit.</p><p>The SCA said Rogers, who was hired about two years ago, was in no way connected to the missing funds. She dismissed the two employees allegedly responsible and reported the matter to the police and the organization’s board.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2014/06/10/after-edwina-rogers-ouster-secular-community-regroups" target="_blank">read more</a></p>annie laurie gaylorbarney frankDemocratsEdwina RogersFreedom From Religion FoundationGod's PoliticsHemant MehtaRacial and Social JusticeRepublicanssecular coalition for americasecular groupsSexismFaith and PoliticsTue, 10 Jun 2014 20:54:15 +0000Kimberly Winston54666 at http://sojo.netReframing Failurehttp://sojo.net/blogs/2014/06/10/reframing-failure
<p>I’ve recently been thinking a lot about failure.</p><p>Not my failures, though I suspect we could come up with a few.</p><p>No, I’ve thinking about Scott Walker’s failed governorship in Wisconsin.</p><p>And Barack Obama’s failed presidency in the nation.</p><p>And our failed foreign policy.</p><p>And the failed Affordable Care Act.</p><p>And Walker’s failed jobs policy for the Badger State. And so on.</p><p>Then I started thinking about the failure of our political dialogue these days.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2014/06/10/reframing-failure" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Affordable Care ActchangeDemocracyDemocratsfailureGod's PoliticsGov. Scott WalkerjobspolicyPoliticsPresident ObamaRacial and Social JusticeRepublicansFaith and PoliticsTue, 10 Jun 2014 15:30:35 +0000Phil Haslanger54636 at http://sojo.netA Strong Third Political Party for the Disaffected Middle?http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/10/11/strong-third-political-party-disaffected-middle
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">I was talking to my wife, Amy, today about the news that Speaker John Boehner has requested movement from his party toward a temporary increase of the United States government debt ceiling.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">The shutdown in itself is problematic enough. Our leaders have willfully put about a million people out of work while they haggle about policy that has already been put into law. The cost of their standoff to the United States economy is a loss of about&nbsp;<a _fcksavedurl="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-08/u-dot-s-dot-loses-1-dot-6-billion-from-shutdown-costing-160-million-a-day" href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-08/u-dot-s-dot-loses-1-dot-6-billion-from-shutdown-costing-160-million-a-day" target="_blank">$1.6 billion a week</a>&nbsp;in economic output. And it’s more than a little bit ironic that this is being done on the watch of a Congress that supposedly has its first priority as jobs and economic growth.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">However, all of this pales in comparison to the potential damage that would ripple throughout the global economy if we were to default on our debt. Because so many markets in the world peg their valuation system to the American dollar, and because so many exchanges use our currency as their monetary system, the prospect of the credibility of our money losing its footing in a potentially irreparable way could be nothing short of catastrophic worldwide.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">“We should just fire them all," said Amy. “Just clean house and start fresh.”</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">The thing is, although this is a sentiment I hear on nearly a daily basis, and I've heard it over the course of many years, very little of substance seems to change when it comes to who represents us in Washington, D.C.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/10/11/strong-third-political-party-disaffected-middle" target="_blank">read more</a></p>DemocratsElectionsextreme wingGod's Politicsgovernment shutdownPolitical PartiesPoliticsprimariedRacial and Social JusticeRepublicansTea PartyThird Partytwo-party systemFaith and PoliticsFri, 11 Oct 2013 14:14:52 +0000Christian Piatt50793 at http://sojo.netMusings of a Millennial: Removing the Political Baggage from Evangelicalismhttp://sojo.net/blogs/2013/09/03/musings-millennial-removing-political-baggage-evangelicalism
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">I am an evangelical.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">But what does that <a href="http://sojo.net/what-is-an-evangelical-overview" target="_blank">label even mean anymore</a>?</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">A few days ago I was sitting around chatting with a few new friends at my Bible college. One of them was a young Canadian and another was a middle-aged former U.S. soldier. We ended up on the topic of politics and how many companies and businesses in the United States give millions to political and social causes and somehow we ended up talking about McDonalds.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">My USAF friend made the statement: “McDonalds is terrible because it gives millions to causes and organizations that you [speaking of me] directly oppose: LGBTQ rights campaigns, Planned Parenthood, etc.” I was taken aback because my new friend simply&nbsp;<i>assumed</i>&nbsp;that because everyone in this conversation was an evangelical meant that we all held a certain set of political ideals and social standards. For him — for millions of others — evangelical meant something far more than a theological persuasion. In the midst of this awkward moment, I decided to reveal my identity as a politically progressive/liberal evangelical, which automatically caused an immense amount of tension to arise in our conversation. How could I, a Bible-believing evangelical, possibly support the LGBTQ community’s right to marry? How could I think that Planned Parenthood was doing&nbsp;<i>any&nbsp;</i>good and that President Obama’s plan to rapidly decrease the numbers of abortions in the United States was progress in any way? Let’s just say that the conversation ended on a pretty tense note.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">This encounter really caused me to re-reflect on the magnitude that the term evangelical has been hijacked by political and social agendas over the past decade and how a new generation of evangelicals is emerging that does not at all identify with any of the social and political baggage that has come to represent evangelical Christianity. Which brings me back to my original question: What does the label evangelical even mean anymore?</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">I can tell you this — it&nbsp;<i>doesn’t&nbsp;</i>mean that I am a Republican. It&nbsp;<i>doesn’t</i>&nbsp;mean that I am a Democrat. It doesn’t mean that I am pro- or anti-anything.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/09/03/musings-millennial-removing-political-baggage-evangelicalism" target="_blank">read more</a></p>DemocratsGod's PoliticsLGBTMillennialspolitical persuasionPoliticsprogressive christiansRacial and Social JusticeReligionthe nonesFaith and PoliticsTue, 03 Sep 2013 19:51:22 +0000Brandan Robertson50259 at http://sojo.netPartisan Fighting Spells Trouble for Church Insurance Under Obamacarehttp://sojo.net/blogs/2013/08/09/partisan-fighting-spells-trouble-church-insurance-under-obamacare
<p><span style="font-size: 12px;">An effort to tweak President Obama’s health care reform bill to fill a gap for church health insurance plans could fail because of Republicans’ insistence on repealing the law.</span></p><p>Without a fix, United Methodist Church leaders say some of their churches&nbsp;<a _fcksavedurl="http://www.unitedmethodistreporter.com/2013/08/board-of-pensions-works-to-amend-the-affordable-care-act/" href="http://www.unitedmethodistreporter.com/2013/08/board-of-pensions-works-to-amend-the-affordable-care-act/" target="_blank">could drop</a>&nbsp;current coverage for employees once “Obamacare” takes full effect next year, according to Colette Nies, spokeswoman for the UMC’s General Board of Pension and Health Benefits.</p><p>Under Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act, more than 50 percent of UMC clergy would qualify for tax credits available to lower- and middle-class families to purchase insurance. But because of the way the law was written, those tax credits cannot be used toward&nbsp;insurance plans churches can offer through government-run exchanges.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/08/09/partisan-fighting-spells-trouble-church-insurance-under-obamacare" target="_blank">read more</a></p>contraception mandateDemocratsfinancesGod's PoliticsHealth CareInstitute on Religion and DemocracyObamacareRacial and Social JusticeRepublicanssenateunitarian universalist associationunited methodist churchFaith and PoliticsFri, 09 Aug 2013 21:14:44 +0000Sarah Pulliam Bailey49938 at http://sojo.netDo Republicans Have an Evangelical Problem?http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/06/13/do-republicans-have-evangelical-problem
<p style="font-size: 12px;">The vast majority of evangelicals have voted with the GOP in recent elections. In fact, despite some qualms about his Mormon faith, 79 percent of evangelicals&nbsp;<a _fcksavedurl="http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/How-the-Faithful-Voted-2012-Preliminary-Exit-Poll-Analysis.aspx" href="http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/How-the-Faithful-Voted-2012-Preliminary-Exit-Poll-Analysis.aspx" target="_blank">voted</a>&nbsp;for Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, the same percentage that voted for President George W. Bush in 2004.</p><p style="font-size: 12px;">So why would the party hire its former South Carolina chairman to lead engagement to a group that for a generation or more has been the reliable anchor of the party faithful? Here are four reasons.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/06/13/do-republicans-have-evangelical-problem" target="_blank">read more</a></p>2016 electionChad ConnellyDemocratsDerrick HarkinsEvangelicalsGod's PoliticsJohn GreenPoliticsRacial and Social JusticeRepublicansRussell Mooresocial issuesTony PerkinsFaith and PoliticsThu, 13 Jun 2013 14:40:58 +0000Sarah Pulliam Bailey49010 at http://sojo.netOur Pastoral Letter on the Budget — And My Hope for the Common Goodhttp://sojo.net/blogs/2013/02/25/our-pastoral-letter-budget-%E2%80%94%C2%A0and-my-hope-common-good
<p style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The sequester battle is a good but tragic example of how the idea of the common good is failing in American politics. By contrast, the growing bipartisan support for comprehensive immigration reform is an alternative example of how a moral issue can rise about our ideologically driven politics.</p><p style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The faith community has stepped into both issues with a call for political leaders to serve the common good. On immigration, political leaders are listening to the faith leaders; on the debates about our nation’s fiscal soul, political leaders need to listen better.</p><p><a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/02/25/our-pastoral-letter-budget-%E2%80%94%C2%A0and-my-hope-common-good" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Budgetbudget cutsCommon goodDemocratsfiscal cliffGod's PoliticsGOPPresident ObamaRacial and Social JusticesequesterSequestrationThe Common GoodEconomic JusticeMon, 25 Feb 2013 16:18:54 +0000Jim Wallis46890 at http://sojo.net GOP should rally around immigration reform, Utah A.G. says http://sojo.net/press/gop-should-rally-around-immigration-reform-utah-ag-says
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<span class="date-display-single">December 4, 2012</span> </div>
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Related Author:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/biography/matt-canham">Matt Canham</a> </div>
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Press Source:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/press-source/salt-lake-tribune">The Salt Lake Tribune</a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/55400677-90/immigration-utah-reform-shurtleff.html.csp">http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/55400677-90/immigration-utah-reform-shurtleff.html.csp</a> </div>
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They joined like-minded religious leaders and law enforcement officials at the National Press Club to kick off a two-day strategy session sponsored by the National Immigration Forum. </div>
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They joined like-minded religious leaders and law enforcement officials at the National Press Club to kick off a two-day strategy session sponsored by the National Immigration Forum. <p><a href="http://sojo.net/press/gop-should-rally-around-immigration-reform-utah-ag-says" target="_blank">read more</a></p>CongressDemocratsImmigrationImmigrationRepublicansWed, 05 Dec 2012 20:41:25 +0000jturner45680 at http://sojo.net